Improvement in refrigerators



Paterted May 6,1873.

W. M. BAKER. Refrigerators.

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N UNITED STATES PATENT WILLIAM -ll/I. BAKER, OF FOBTVILLE, INDIANA.

IMPROVEMENT IN REFRIGERATORS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 138,553, dated May 6, 1873 5 application filed March 1, 1873.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM M. BAKER, of Fortville, in the county of Hancock and State of Indiana, have invented a new and Improved Refrigerator, of which the following is a specication:

Figure l is a vertical section of my improved refrigerator on the line c c, Fig. 2, and Fig. 2 is a vertical transverse section of the same through the ice-chambers on line w xr Fig. l.

Similar letters of reference indicate corref spondin g parts.

The object of myinvention is to furnish to the public a refrigerator which cools the air in 'such a manner that the same is carried dry, fresh, and cold over the provisions stored therein, for the better preservation of the same; also the ice-water to be collected, filtered, and used to advantage.

The principal objection to the filters in use are, that the air being in contact with the ice and icewater takes up a great deal of the moisture and hastens thereby the spoiling of the provisions by producing circumstances favorable to fermentation; the foul air is not sufciently replaced by pure air, which imparts disagreeable noxious tastes to the provisions; also the ice-water is allowed to run off without being made use of at all.

This I aim to avoid by my refrigerator, which consists of three distinct parts, the provision-chamber, the air-chamber, and the The air is cooled by the ice around the ice-chamber without coming in contact with it and passes through apertures into the provision-chamber andlout again. The ice-water is collected, ltered, and drawn off for use in such a manner that the water may escape but no air enter to the air-chamber.

In the drawing, A represents the body of the refrigerator, which may be divided into two or three parts, the provision-chamber B, and one or two ice-chambers, G, at the sides of the same. Plain shelves b divide again the provision-chamber, which are perforated suitably to allow the passage of the cold air and its escape through holes a,with sliding covers in the top of the refrigerator. The outer surrounding sides and doors are constructed in the customary manner as non-conduotors. The ice-chambers C contain perforated shelves d, on which the ice is placed; Airchambers D with inclined sides are arranged below the upper shelves d, so that the ice-water dripping on them cools the air circulating in them and runs 0E to collectin the lower part of the ice-chambers C. Suitable doors lead to the ice land provision-chambers. A filter, E, under thelower shelf d, cleanses the ice-water and passes it into reservoir F, from which it may be drawn off by stop-cocks c. Pipes f lead the surplus icewa-ter through the bottom of the refrigerator into trap-chambers G, attached, movably, to the bottom thereof, from which the surplus water again escapes by pipes g. No air can by this arrangement enter into the ice-chambers C, which causes a slower melting of the ice and a considerable saving in the consumption of the same. Between the outer nonconducting sides of the refrigerator and the.V

interior sides of the ice-chambers O are airspaces, h, which are separated by cross-pieces t', so that the air which is admitted through apertures K is compelled to circulate through the cold-air chambers D. The cold air sinks to the bottom of the air-spaces, and is admitted through openings l into the provisionchamber B, passing up through the shelves b, as before mentioned. Arrows indicate in Figs. 1 and 2 the current of air. The airchambers D are further connected by small tubes m, which are closed at their lower ends by receptacles n, containing a sponge or other absorbent material for the purpose of collecting the moisture condensed on account of the'reductiou of temperature in the air-chan1 bers.

The wedge-like shape and inclined sides of the air-chambers serve not only to convey the moisture collected at the inner surface to the receptacles a, but allow also the free running 0E of the ice-water dripping on the outer sides.

2. The arrangement of one or more air-chambers,D, having inclined sides, for the purposes described.

WM. M. BAKER.

' Witnesses:

D. T. WYNN, A. C. DAVIS. 

